Baku Grand-Prix opening cermony.
Magnus (and I) arrived in Baku early this morning. The Austrian Airlines flight due at 03:25 was ahead of schedule and following efficient Visa and luggage handling and a pick up by the organisor we arrived at the accommodation and playing venue hotel Hyatt Regency before 4 AM!
The hotel is situated about 2 kilometres from the sea and is very good.
The rooms are good, the internet connection fast and the complimentary Oasis sports club is just excellent.
The technical meeting at 15:00 was conducted in a very light and positive atmosphere with 10 players present.
Each round will be played at 15:00 except for the last round starting one hour earlier.
The time control is 2h/40 + 1h/20 + 15min & 30s increment after move 60.
There was some discussions around the introduction of "Sofia" rules concluding that the players are not allowed to speak to their opponent nor to any other player during the games, period.
A draw request following a repetition of moves, lack of material to mate or a dead drawn position has to be directed to the arbiter Faik Gasanov and he may also draw upon the advice of technical advisor Zurab Azmaiparashvili.
The opening ceremony was held in the philharmoni hall in the city centre close to the sea, and 12 players attended. Navara and Yue has not arrived yet.
The speeches focused on the importance for Azerbaijan to host this first tournament in the 2008-9 Grand Prix series. It is dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the birth of the former head of state H.Aliyev (which I'm not going to forget for some time as it was mentioned more than 10 times in each language during the opening ceremony....)
The drawing of lots was based on numbers concealed within a beautiful wooden box presented to each player. Surprisingly the players drew in alphabetical order (it is the first time we experience this in a high level round robin tournament), but this turned out well for Magnus who picked no. 3 and an extra white for the first time in a long while.
In round 1 he is up against Chinese Yue Wang who is scheduled to arrive late this evening.
In round 2 Magnus is black against Svidler and so on.
The artistic part following the drawing of lots included songs, a beautiful piano performance as well as a small high quality band playing traditional instruments.
Ready to go!
Henrik Carlsen
Baku, April 20th 2008.
The hotel is situated about 2 kilometres from the sea and is very good.
The rooms are good, the internet connection fast and the complimentary Oasis sports club is just excellent.
The technical meeting at 15:00 was conducted in a very light and positive atmosphere with 10 players present.
Each round will be played at 15:00 except for the last round starting one hour earlier.
The time control is 2h/40 + 1h/20 + 15min & 30s increment after move 60.
There was some discussions around the introduction of "Sofia" rules concluding that the players are not allowed to speak to their opponent nor to any other player during the games, period.
A draw request following a repetition of moves, lack of material to mate or a dead drawn position has to be directed to the arbiter Faik Gasanov and he may also draw upon the advice of technical advisor Zurab Azmaiparashvili.
The opening ceremony was held in the philharmoni hall in the city centre close to the sea, and 12 players attended. Navara and Yue has not arrived yet.
The speeches focused on the importance for Azerbaijan to host this first tournament in the 2008-9 Grand Prix series. It is dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the birth of the former head of state H.Aliyev (which I'm not going to forget for some time as it was mentioned more than 10 times in each language during the opening ceremony....)
The drawing of lots was based on numbers concealed within a beautiful wooden box presented to each player. Surprisingly the players drew in alphabetical order (it is the first time we experience this in a high level round robin tournament), but this turned out well for Magnus who picked no. 3 and an extra white for the first time in a long while.
In round 1 he is up against Chinese Yue Wang who is scheduled to arrive late this evening.
In round 2 Magnus is black against Svidler and so on.
The artistic part following the drawing of lots included songs, a beautiful piano performance as well as a small high quality band playing traditional instruments.
Ready to go!
Henrik Carlsen
Baku, April 20th 2008.
Comments:
Posted by: EvigOptimist
Tvi Tvi!
Posted by: stein
Magnus is the most mean-looking of all the players:
baku2008.fide.com/fide-grandprix-star...s-today-in-baku.html
baku2008.fide.com/fide-grandprix-star...s-today-in-baku.html
Posted by: Rob Vlaardingerbroek
Toi, toi, toi Magnus!
May both of you have a nice time there,
Best,
Rob.
May both of you have a nice time there,
Best,
Rob.
Posted by: Klemens
I wish you the very best, Magnus, for the 1st GP tournament and hope to be able to follow some of the games via the net!
Posted by: Tony
Stein has it all wrong: Magnus is doing a briliant dead-pan of Gata Kamsky!
baku2008.fide.com/fide-grandprix-star...s-today-in-baku.html
baku2008.fide.com/fide-grandprix-star...s-today-in-baku.html
Posted by:
hoping for an exciting game against inarkiev tomorrow, all the best magnus
Trackback
Trackback-URL for this entry:
http://app.blogg.no/trackback/ping/5816276
http://app.blogg.no/trackback/ping/5816276
